1953 Jaguar C-Type Roadster

After an unsuccessful 1952 Le Mans campaign, Coventry's engineers realized that the C-Type needed a few upgrades to remain competitive, including triple Weber carburetors, high-lift cams, revised Panhard rod rear suspension, and, most notably, four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes. A final run of three lightweight Works cars, each wrapped with thinner-gauge magnesium alloy coachwork and with all of the above improvements to boot, were developed to compete at Le Mans in 1953. Chassis XKC 051 is the first of those final three lightweight C-Types built, representing the peak of development for the model.

This Jaguar C-Type won Le Mans in 1953, driven by Tony Rolt and Duncan Hamilton, completing 304 laps at an average speed of 100 mph - a first for the Le Mans race. This result finished a 1st, 2nd, and 4th finish for C-Types that year (2nd was piloted by Stirling Moss / Peter Walker) and furthered the model's eminence as a superlative racer. Wrapped in thinner-gauge alloy coachwork than its predecessors, and sporting three Weber carburetors and four-wheel disc brakes, the C-Type was unbeatable. XKC 051 also finished with an average speed of 105.85 mph, the first car to average over 100 mph, an improvement of some 10 percent over the previous highest average speed.

XKC 051 continued to compete throughout the mid-1950s with Jaguar and later Ecurie Ecosse, as well as by privateers Bill Smith and Geoffrey Allison. In 1957 the C-Type was sold to Miles Brubacher of California, who kept it for over a decade, using it as a road car and restoring the bare chassis before passing it in 1968 to the famed American sportsman and racing legend, Briggs Cunningham, for display in his famed museum in Costa Mesa. So impressed was Cunningham with its engineering that he displayed the Le Mans-winning C-Type without its coachwork as restored by Brubacher. In 1986, XKC 051's story came nearly full circle when it was acquired by Duncan Hamilton's son, Adrian. The younger Hamilton continued to enjoy his father's former Le Mans winner for the ensuing decades as a vintage racer, with new coachwork, while carefully preserving the original body in storage.

The current caretaker, recognizing its significance, treated the car to a sympathetic restoration. Based on previous collaboration, Chris Keith-Lucas and the specialists at CKL Developments were entrusted with this task which has resulted in a car that is correct, retains all of its original major components, including virtually all of the original magnesium alloy coachwork, and represents the ultimate development of the Jaguar C-Type, which set the stage for all future Le Mans winners to come.

This C-Type remains one of the most significant racers from the Jaguar stable.